Category: Self-Protection

Let us look at the differences between the US treatment of “us” and the Cuban of “them.” The Cubans have free for service health clinics in every neighborhood. They can go whenever needed. Us citizens have insurance policies whose basis is making a profit. They are corporations whose focus is monetary gain. The same with the pharmaceutical industry that creates the drugs the doctors use and the doctors who work like racehorses running the course to make megabucks, allotting maybe 5 minutes to see and hear a client’s complaint, to employ a stethoscope and write a prescription. What do they know about the patient’s life? Nothing. No time for that. They make money depending on numbers.

Then there is what doctors have been taught to do and know in medical schools funded by the pharmaceutical industry with corporatists on the medical school board. They learn to prescribe, prescribe, prescribe the latest pill which is usually the old pill with a slight change in color, packaging or some other minor addition or subtraction to hold onto the patent.

What is the real goal of medicine today? It is to treat, “see you again soon.” How does this differ from Cuba? Thanks to the import restrictions placed by the US, they cannot get the latest pills. Many have organic gardens in front of back yards. They also cannot get polluting sprays (and new cars.) It sounds horribly depriving to US citizen who “believe” in medicine and doesn’t want the responsibility of selfcare.

Sure, they go to the gym. But they also eat lots of sugar and fried food, and drink alcohol and take lots of pills to sleep and awaken and function and are exhausted and anxious and driven and confused about what to do. Usually, they do more of same. It is a childish belief to think that you simply haven’t done enough when things don’t go right.

The Cubans with their front yard organic gardens and colorful 50s cars meandering along, have-to undo whatever harm their diet and lack of exercise and whatever bad habits they indulge in to undermine their health. The Cuban doctors this. The doctor is not there to treat, he/she is there to cure. We Americans act as if a diagnosis is ours for life. They see it as a symptom of a life style you must change.

We have been told to surrender to the pill industry. We are misinformed.

Those who own the earth we live on are gamblers who set the stakes. For them, it all boils down to money. It is a conversion factor of life into chips. The one who has the most chips when the tally closes, wins. Closure is set by mass extinction.

People are called to mine various resources. Zooming ahead to the finish line does not support life. Take Mountain Top Removal. Miners no longer work underground. Most are replaced by machines. The mountain top is shaved down to the line of coal. Soil and chemicals fall into streams. The land is polluted. There are landslides which kill people. Money makes the decision. More coal to sell the world’s great polluter.

Some dig for oil, for precious metals, diamonds for this or that. Some go into factory farming. They do monocropping which sets us up for a virus that will wipe out all we eat. They use chemicals that kill insects including the Monarch butterfly and will kill us as well; They raise animals in vast numbers. Chickens and turkeys and pigs are raised in tiny spaces. Cattle are also kept from grazing and eat out of vats of corn. Chickens are bred to have such huge breasts they can barely walk. Many fall and are trampled. All are upset by crowding and by not the living in open fields to eat worms and bugs and plants and run about. Most are given anti biotics to ward off pre-harvest death. The anti-biotic remains in their flesh which we eventually consume. Among other consequences, we soon will be unreactive to antibiotics when we need them to fight infection. People will die from a cut on their leg.

Since the factory farm animals, number in the thousands, their shit and piss, falls into pipes beneath the floor then collected and drained into huge ponds. Hurricanes pass over capturing the waste if releases onto all in its path. Some factory farms blow the waste into the air when the pond gets too full. This spray rains down on locals whose houses lose all value. The people who live in this flood of waste lead hellish lives.

What about the politicians who set the rules to protect their citizens but hide their eyes from consequences? Take Jerry Brown, Governor of California who mourns the huge number of fires ravaging California. Incidentally, prisoners are paid $2/day to fire fight. They are not given enough instruction to be professional fire fighters once released from prison. Is that another save money proposition for those who own the prisons?

What is the gambler’s stake in these catastrophes? Who profits by ignoring it. The soil is dry from drought. That is the consequence of the Greenhouse effect. There is less ice to melt and set the soil. The trees lack water to fight flames. Planes spread chemicals to limit sun, which also rains down onto the soil and into the roots of tree which kills them. Governments deny this activity or call it research. But we can see and test it. Trees poisoned by sky chemicals easily burst into flames when fire comes near.

The politician, here Jerry Brown, states helpless consternation with fires and says it can only get worse. But wait! Jerry Brown is allowing oil wells to be dug in California. The oil which is sold then heats the atmosphere which creates the flames. Is Brown too stupid to see the connection. Or is a payoff in his pocket? How many politicians are gambling now, hoping to miss the final extinction before becoming wealthy?

How did we get to the place where we stopped thinking of ourselves as part of a universal family? Your health and welfare and mine go hand in hand. Why now do we allow the one percent to totally rob us of our taxes to create new mansions they will live in whenever they get tired of the old one and to arm the warring factions so they can bring back the spoils? Those who would do this repeatedly tell us via TV and internet and papers on their payroll, that we are in danger. They beat the drum of helplessness and danger to magnify public fear until the warrior class is told to go ahead.

How did this community which supported peace and sharing change into one of it’s in it for me? How did a secure community turn into a powerless entity?

David Imhotep, Ph.D. found in his amazing research that blacks were the first ones in the Americas and came here some 40 or 50 maybe 60 thousand years ago. The number keeps getting bigger, using carbon dating and thermal luminescence of stone tools used some 50 to 100 thousand years ago. The Africans first came to Brazil. Writings found in caves using a combination of Egyptian and a kind of Hebrew script to tell their story.

They first built enormous mounds and then moved on to creating Pyramids. These enormous structures show people working together, as do their African plants dyes, styles of sculpture, etc. They smelted iron ore into iron. They were artists, engineer, astronomers, traders, healers, shaman. These mounds and pyramids are found around the globe. No one can figure out how so-called “primitives” raised enormous rocks weighing tons to great heights to create architectural symmetry. Place temple openings in terms of sun and moon and solstice and even Orion, a planet, were precise. We of the so-called more advanced culture, deny (and destroy) the products of these ancient cultures. We do it to sustain a myth of superiority.

Imhotep posited that it was the encroaching ice age that turned humans against group membership. It became I hold onto what I’ve got to survive. You are my enemy for wanting it. When the cold penetrates and there is little food, each family or individual is for itself

Focusing on self-interest is currently exacerbated by life-threatening climate changes caused by us. Money and power have caused us to let this happen and are not letting go of their hold. Money in their narrow focus is more important than survival. The publicists they support diminish their role in creating pollution and extol ever increasing warfare, said to protect ourselves from a fictitious enemy nation, basically to steal. We kill as we go. We, the public dwell in an emotional hell in which everyone who is of the wrong color, language, religion… is the enemy. We join the army because there are no jobs and learn to kill the “enemy.” We scream with programmed joy and rage while destroying schools and hospitals and water purification plants and fields and grandparents and children and… We are disassociated from life, turn into rabid, fearful plunderers who expect a solitary death.

We need to see ourselves and all life including plants and animals as a family and turn away from corporate violence before their incited violence erases us all. We need to form ever larger groups, no one left out. We are all of the same genotype: human.

It is unusual that I can make it to a tenant’s meeting in my apartment building due to the late hours I keep in my career. But having some time off from work I was able to make it. The man in charge, a very big man with a big voice led the discussion. Occasionally, though, a second man on the panel, spoke up. There were a few long-winded residents, particularly a woman who loved to argue yet could not come to a conclusion. Sprawling, inconclusive speech is both a passive-aggressive attack on the listener as well as a sign of inadequacy in the speaker.

What was extremely noticeable was that the elected women on the panel mostly said nothing. One questioned about the cost of some parts spoke about getting a low price on a construction job. For this she was complimented by the top man. She was the most outspoken of the women. But what it came to bringing up new matters, from the women, there was not a peep.

I found their silence very frustrating and very typical. Women do not take an independent position when men exert their power. Is this our training in our society (and in many societies)? If you speak up, you are labeled unfeminine, a bitch. If you do not speak up, you are labeled passive, unable to take a leadership position. It is your learned subservient role. On Nazi Germany under Hitler, it as the 3 K’s for women, Kirche, Kuche and Kinder (Church, cooking and children.)

How did this come about and why do we let it continue? Women are more than 50% of the population. Where do they put their power? Iceland threw out the bankers who were ruining the economy with their risky self-serving investments of their client’s money and put women in charge. You may not know it but Iceland is considered to have the most intelligent population in the world. It takes brain power to make independent decisions.

I know how to feel afraid that I don’t fit in. Women take the mike but do not make sense, who ramble aimlessly sounding incompetent are part of our learned role. We are supposed to sign in awe when Mr. Man fixes something. Women do not go for the sciences, to math, to physics or computers because these are in man’s world. Who decides? How do we distinguish between innate gifts and the role that was assigned us?

There is only 1 way. Go do the forbidden thing, read the topic, learn the skills your interest requires. Work until you get it. Giving in supports having an inadequate self-image. Abandon assigned roles. Don’t fit in with woman’s dodo image. Speak up but speak precisely to your point. Celebrate individual, creativity. Celebrate your life.

Went to a meeting in my apartment building the other day, unusual for me to be able to attend since my work outside the building usually keeps late hours. The man in charge, a very big man with a big voice generally led the discussion. Once in a while, a second man on the panel, spoke up. There were a few long-winded residents, particularly a woman who loved to argue and could not come-to- a conclusion. Inadequate speech is both a passive-aggressive attack on the listener as well as a sign of inadequacy.

What was extremely noticeable was that the elected women on the panel mostly said nothing. One questioned about the cost of some repairs. One spoke of getting a low price on some needed item or construction job. For this she was complimented by the top man. and it’s true she was the most outspoken of the women. But when it came to a discussion of affairs already way or bringing up new matters, from the women, not a peep.

I found their silence very frustrating and also very typical. Women do not take an independent position when men exert their power. It is in our training. In our society (and in many societies) f you speak up you are labeled unfeminine, castrating, a bitch. If you do not speak up, you are labeled passive, unable to take a leadership position. In your learned subservient role. In Nazi Germany under Hitler, it was the 2 K’s for women: Kirche, Kuche and Kinder (Church, cooking and children).

How did this insanity come about and why do we let it continue? Women are more than 50 % of the population. Where do they put their power? Iceland threw out the bankers who were ruining the economy with their risky, self-serving investments and put women in charge. You may not know it but Iceland is considered to have the most intelligent population in the world. It takes brain power to made independent decisions.

I know the feeling of fear, of being afraid you don’t fit in. I wonder at women who take the mike who do not make sense. Sounding incompetent is part of our learned role. We are supposed to sigh in awe when Mr. Man fixes something. Women do not go to the sciences, to math, to physics, to computers, because these are a man’s world. Who decided? How do we distinguish between our innate gifts and the role that was assigned to us?

There is only one way. Go do the forbidden thing, read the topic, learn the skills your interest requires. Work until you get it. Giving in supports having an inadequate image. Most people under estimate the time they take to learn to understand and do something. Don’t listen to anyone tell you how long a project takes. Work at it until it is done to your satisfaction. Abandon assigned roles. Don’t fit in with a woman as dodo image. Celebrate individuality, creativity. Celebrate your life.

My friend told me about spending a birthday with her granddaughter on her 16th birthday. She told me that the girl told her of her mother’s betrayal, telling the girl’s Tai Kwando teacher, the mother’s co-teacher and secret lover, that the girl said his teaching technique was faulty. The mother told her boyfriend and the boyfriend then attacked the daughter for a variety of unrelated things. Clearly to the girl, it was punishment following the mother’s betrayal.

As a result, the girl was not speaking to her mother except for necessary directives and the mother seemed not to notice. The girl, an adoptee, asked by her mother years ago if she as regarded as her mother, answered one half. Mom immediately said that they could hunt down the girl’s mother in Guatemala if she wanted. Mom was totally unthinking, probably unconsciously and deliberately so, that the girl found her to be one half a parent because she acted in a half-parent way. Telling her boyfriend what her daughter said about him was a perfect example.

I asked my friend what did she say to her granddaughter when she heard the story. She said, “I was silent.” I heard a warning note in her voice, a “don’t go there” and wondered why. She was being half a grandmother the way her daughter was half a mother.

I dared to ask why she said nothing in return to her granddaughter’s disclosure. She said I don’t want to say bad things about my daughter. She said it in a haughty way, part of her Buddhist training to only support love. I wanted to say more but she clearly did not want to hear it. So, I will say what I did not say to her and then some, here.

She had a vituperative demanding mother who required worship. She was designated the caretaker of her younger brothers. No one thanked her for it and she quickly learned to keep her mouth shut, particularly since her father was even worse and had no interest in her at all. Keep an A average and get out of my way when I leave to be with my friends at the airport (he had a tiny plane) bought from his teacher’s and minister’s salary. Family came last if at all.

Fear underlay her silence although she painted it with the color of goodness. Sometimes, what we tell ourselves about how wonderful we are is merely a cover up. She exemplified the silence that her granddaughter was using towards her mother, a kind of unstated non-endorsement. She was supporting the same kind of alienation she had from Mom and Dad in childhood. She was covering up her own overly indulgent behavior she always had toward her daughter, giving her the support no matter what she never got from her Mother and creating a self-centered spoiled brat. It is this brat part of the girl’s mother who did not think to ask what makes me only one half a mother to you, my daughter.

My friend needs to tell her granddaughter to tell her mother about her hurt feelings at the mother’s passing on the girl’s secret to her lover. Yes, the mother’s feelings might be hurt. It might be hard for her to consider that something she is doing is causing a problem. But do remember that the mother’s upset and subsequent (hopeful) examination of her motivation as well as thoughtless if not ill-intentioned doing, feeling sorry and apologizing will bring mother and daughter closer.

It is always better to air grievances so that trust is reestablished. There is nothing better than knowing you can always talk about it.

Those who largely have inherited their wealth see themselves as god-chosen. Those who have less are deemed unworthy. Religion has long been used as an excuse for theft, rape, murder like during the search for the Holy Grail. If one speaks up against economic abuse and has a following, he/she often is jailed and even murdered as were Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Murderers are hired by those who fear the consequences of a citizen uprising. As Frederick Douglass said, the powerful will not give up anything without a struggle.

Slippage into an undemocratic process has- to be corrected. Elections need to not be run by competing parties but by a neutral group like The League of Women Voters. Instead of attempting to reduce the number of voters as has been happening, voter registration should be conferred at birth and at the time of citizenship. Not voting should have a monetary penalty. Voting is your duty and you right including for those in prison. There can be no loss of voting rights.

Voting should be allowed until the latest moment including weekends. There should be no way to disqualify voters like Kris Koback’s (the “King of Voter Suppression”) error-filled scam of declared double registration when the names of largely black and brown and Spanish Democrats barely resemble each other, to get rid of voters from a rival party.

There should be rank order voting, first choice then second choice and so on, so that the winner is the one who has the most votes. The parties should not determine who will run. Every interested person may run. Instead of corporate money controlling campaigns, a stated federal amount is given to each nominee and no other money is allowed. Voting must be done on paper and hand counted (as is done in Canada). Privately owned computers should not count the vote. Computer output can easily be rigged.

No one including the Supreme Court judges should rule for life. What if their thinking proves unjust like our most recent appointee who rules corporations over people? The Supreme Court is there to serve the people, to distinguish the “unjust.” Bring them up for a vote say every 5 years which is enough time to have proved their mettle. Rule-breaking is the right of despots not of elected presidents. Let the people demand a court appearance with the right to remove from office those who gain spoils from office or who are emotionally unfit to lead.

Demand a retraction of the insane ruling which declares corporations to be people and gives them a too strong influence on those who govern. Change the US economy whose main income comes from prisons and from selling instruments of death which causes an arms race everywhere. Close the prisons and offer free education so that all may acquire valuable skills to earn a living.